It's not a rabbit's foot in their pocket. Nor the rituals they go
through before a task. It's not a penny on heads or salt over the
shoulder. It's simply that their hard work and effort has paid off. Have
you ever heard a player scream "this guy is so lucky," or "how lucky
can a girl get?" Well in most cases, a person is as lucky as how hard he
or she works. These players on the courts and people in life are
creating their own luck.

Luck has a multitude of meanings; two of the most common are fate and
fortune. Fate gives a notion of something predestined to happen. It is
something that is completely out of our hands. Fortune is something we
can create for ourselves through outworking the other guy and making the
best decisions in a given circumstance. The Fortune 500 is a prime
example of this. Do you really think those companies made it just
because of simple dumb luck? Try telling that to Bill Gates or any of
Sam Walton's or Henry Ford's heirs.

Sure, there is the lottery ticket
winner or the guy that hits 21 at the blackjack table and the kid who
was born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth. But the
mainstream here and now, the fortunes we gain by putting ourselves in
the right position at the right time, comes from making the right
choices and doing the right things. It comes from giving ourselves the
opportunity for that dumb luck to step in and lend a hand - from
out-working the other guy and "earning" our service breaks.

No one is ever
entitled to anything without first earning it. This is one of the sad
things about society today. So many think they shouldn't have to work
for anything anymore. "Oh the government should give that to me." "They
aren't paying me enough." "Why does he catch all of the breaks?" "My
child should have been seeded higher," "Life's not fair." Guess what,
life was not meant to be fair. Life was meant to be a challenge. Life is
meant to build character - not give it. The misfortunes we face every
day are not punishments. Those misfortunes are opportunities to make us
stronger - better people or, on the courts, better players.

I watch matches all of the time where one player seems to catch all of the breaks. But it's usually the player who earns
all of the breaks. It is the one that runs every ball down, always
recovers, makes the right shot selection and doesn't check-out. This
player, this "fortunate son" is the one who creates his own luck. He
does this perhaps by nothing more than pushing the other guy to make
some bonehead shot or decision on the court. But regardless, it is
usually earned.

He hits all of the lines. The ball always
clears the net when it ticks the tape and even when you hit the perfect
ball it comes back. Is there some magic formula, some hidden trick that
you are not seeing? Actually, yes. He is out-working you and knows he
has to earn it. More importantly he is willing to earn it. We often
don't realize that the harder he works, more times than not the more
reckless or sloppier we become trying to overcome it. That player puts
himself into the position to catch the breaks where the other guy takes
himself out of position.

Recently in a tournament one of my
players experienced this. She came inside the baseline and hit a low,
dipping ball up the middle of the court. Her opponent - only because she
was in great position and had followed her short ball in - was able to
get just enough on the ball to hit a high lob back over the net. Both
players ended up very close to the net. My player took aim at the
overhead, but then she glanced across the net, lost concentration, and
pulled back as not to hit her opponent. She dinked the ball over the net
right at the hands of the other girl. The ball literally hit the butt
end of her racquet and dropped back over the net. That was game point
for the other girl. Dumb luck right? Maybe, but only because the other
player did all of the right things and was in the right place at the
right time.

A player can hit those lines because she is in the position to take and
make the shot. She gets to the ball the ticks the net and gets it back
over because her recovery was ideal. The points always seem to go her
way because he is making the better decisions and working smarter and
maybe more efficiently than you are. That's right - smarter. These
players are the same people in life that we envy because they seem to
catch all of "The Breaks" - they are working hard and smart.

The
father of modern business management, Peter Drucker, once said, "There
is nothing so useless than doing efficiently that which should not be
done at all." In similar terms there is a difference between doing
things right and doing the right things. These "lucky dogs" that we envy
so much are doing the right things and doing them well.

I very
much believe in the Existentialist approach of psychology. It says our
lives are shaped by our emotions, actions, responsibilities and
thoughts. The hard work and decisions we make are what creates that luck
or fortunes for us. We cannot control everything, but we can certainly
influence how our tennis games and our lives shape up by the decisions
we make and actions we take - and even by how we "respond not react" to
those actions and thoughts. Responding to something implies an element
of thought or responsibility that is learned and trained. Simply
reacting is nothing more than a reflex or impulse action. The irony of
it all is that more times than not people around us and sometimes even
ourselves only see the luck. We only identify the fortunes and totally
blind ourselves towards the effort, exertion and hard work that were put
in. Give credit where credit is needed - and take credit only when
credit is due.

Are we always going to see or experience that dumb
luck or fortunes by busting our tails? No, probably not. But we will
never see it if we never bust our tails at all. Being good and being
lucky (fortunate) go hand in hand. They are both the results of
dedicated effort, hard work and doing the right things.

As for
the guy who buys his first lottery ticket ever and wins the Powerball or
the guy that hits a length of the floor jump shot to win a million
dollars at half time of the NBA game - hey, tip your hat and feel good
for them. Then get back to work. Because no one is ever going to make it
in life waiting for dumb luck to come around and save the day. I tell
my players all of the time, "Good things don't come to those who wait.
Good things come to those who work!"

It doesn't matter who you are, you are no more special than the guy on
your right who has nothing or the guy on you left who has everything!
You, me, and everyone is only entitled to what we have truly worked for
and earned. Even then, many times you will not even be able to claim
what you feel is yours. Why? It's called life! It's not a magical world
where I deserve everything I want - whether I have worked my tail off or
not. If you worked hard for you goal and get there, great! Rejoice in
it and show grace. Then reset your goals and move on because victory is
fleeting. When you don't reach your goals or attain your prize, regroup
and come back out swinging. Make it your motivation. Make it your drive
to create your own luck. In the end, the lucky ones are the ones who
working for it.